In my earlier Patent 4,868,998, there is disclosed the use of a tumble dryer in a hair dryer apparatus in which the rotation of a drum of the tumble dryer and the source of drying heat is obtained from the heated air produced by the hand-held hair dryer of the apparatus. The constructing of the hair dryer itself is disclosed in my Patent 4,700,049.
The hair dryer apparatus is intended for use in a bathroom. There are two major safety requirements for the usage of such apparatus in a bathroom:
i) Any electrical appliance used in a bathroom must not be allowed to come into contact with water, especially when switched on, as the electrical current always remains in the product. The reason is that the contact of water and electricity can cause death by electrocution. PA1 ii) More than one appliance cannot be operated off one power point. Therefore, technically speaking each product, for example, a hair dryer garment dryer, air freshener, illuminated vanity mirror, and the like, must have its own power supply and Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI), which will trip the electrical supply to the product as soon as contact with water is made. This involves a substantial cost to the user, whether a private homeowner or a hotel for a separate power supply, inclusive of a GFCI for each product.
I have provided a wall mounted hair dryer apparatus combining the hand-held hair dryer and electrical outlets for an electrical shaver into one unit. By utilizing an electronic control board, which distributes electrical power to both constituents in the unit, a multi-functional product is obtained which only requires one electrical power source.
An important fact of this apparatus is that all the electrical power supply is contained in a housing mounted on the wall. To operate the hair dryer, the user simply removes the handle of the hair dryer from its temporary support in the housing, whereupon the hair dryer is automatically activated. Therefore, there is no need for human contact with the electricity near water. Because the housing is fixed to the wall and therefore cannot be dropped into water, the product is safe for use in the bathroom.
A disadvantage of the combined unit is that not all users want the shaver outlets and it becomes necessary to manufacture and store both the combined units and those with the dryer alone.